Rainy Days

We have not had a real winter since 2012 - almost no rain and sunny days have been the norm.

But this year, El Niño is in full force and today we had heavy rain, crazy wind  (42 mph) and even an emergency alert on our phones regarding flash floods.

I used my indoor time wisely and finished up a bunch of projects.

I found this IKEA hamper in the attic the other day (my kids are great about dumping stuff at our house) and it's quite functional, but not my style.

 I thought I might make the hamper work in our house with a bit of drop cloth and the word laundry was easy to add with my metal Decor Steals stencils.

It amazes me how much better the hamper looks with a lighter colored bag.

I'll admit that I "staged" this pic (my purse doesn't usually hang here nor does the sign,), but I did clean out the stuff Steve had hanging there - he did not need 7 jackets, 4 sweatshirts and a vest.

Next up was finishing the cable knit pillow I decided to make after seeing a pretty pillow here that Lory of Designthusiasm shared a couple of weeks ago.

All I had to do today was sew buttons onto the back - I haven't knitted cables in years and had to play around with creating a pattern.

But, I'm liking how it turned out and with my color palette, I'll move it from room to room.

In my last post, I said I was going to make cookies and a rainy day seemed perfect.

I love this recipe card because it shows that it has definitely been used - the only recipe I use for oatmeal cookies.

I can't believe that I actually typed out the cards on a typewriter.

After eating a few cookies, I packaged them up into bundles of 6 and gave them to neighbors - otherwise, I could have eaten them all.

It was still raining so I grabbed my grandmother's school slate (circa 1890),

chalk and little metal stencils to write a new message.

The chalkboard triggered an update in the entry.

I had moved the red cart out of the entry, but I love it and I didn't get to look at it in the guest room.

So, the cart is once again in plain sight and Grandma's slate has a place of prominence.

By 5:00, I had the table set for dinner - Steve is making pork ribs tonight.

I had a very productive day and the wind is supposed to howl all through the night and tomorrow so who knows what else I might finish.